Hardeeville woman critically wounded in Sunday morning shooting

Two St. Helena men are in custody following a shooting that left a Hardeeville woman critically wounded early Sunday morning.

At about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputies received a report of a gunshot victim, traveling eastbound on S.C. 170 in Bluffton near the Broad River Bridge. The victim reported having been shot while driving in her red Ford Expedition by two unknown men following her in a tan Chevy Tahoe. A second call was then received from the two occupants of the Tahoe, claiming that they had been robbed by the occupants of the Expedition and were pursuing them.

Deputies located and stopped the Expedition, driven by Kristina Nicole Trudell, 24, pulling into Parker’s at 9227 Evans Way. Trudell, who had gunshot wounds to the back and leg, was accompanied by Joshua Oshie Pryor, 24, and Trudell’s three children‑ ages 8, 5, and 3. Trudell was immediately transported to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment of life-threatening injuries. Neither Pryor nor the children sustained had sustained any injury.

The Tahoe was stopped at about the same time a short distance away at the traffic circle that intersects S.C. 170 and S.C. 46. Deputies made contact with the driver, Harold Ernest Daise, Jr., 32, and his passenger Quinton Jabari Doe, 26.

During the investigation, police learned that just before the shooting, Trudell and Pryor had arranged to meet Daise and Doe at the Beaufort Walmart for a drug deal.

After completing the transaction, during which Pryor allegedly sold what was purported to be crack cocaine to Daise and Doe, all parties left the area. However, Daise and Doe quickly realized that the substance they had been sold was fake, and they set out to locate Pryor and Trudell. Upon catching up to Trudell on S.C. 170, Doe fired several rounds into her vehicle and continued to pursue her before being stopped by police.

Deputies recovered a handgun along with a small amount of marijuana, a pill bottle containing a schedule II narcotic, and several baggies of a substance packaged to appear as crack cocaine from Daise’s vehicle.

Both Daise and Doe were arrested, each on five counts of Attempted Murder, one count of Simple Possession of Marijuana, and one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance. Doe, who has been identified as the shooter, was also charged with one count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Violent Crime.

Additional charges may be pending against all parties, including Trudell and Pryor, as members of the Beaufort-Jasper Multi-Jurisdiction Drug Task Force (DTF) further investigate the alleged drug transaction.